Changing world

World is changing, moving faster than it rotates or revolves.

The obsession with technology:

- How do you tell your friend who lives 2 states away you were coming to see him tomorrow, 12 years ago? 

- Log on to your internet, no social networks. How long would you last before you get frigging bored?

- Go to library to get your info. Not google or all those online stuffs, a real library with dusty books.

- Discard your ATMs, go queue in the banks, all the time.

I cannot remember what life was like before all these stuffs came to be. Talk about shortness of memory.

Random question.

OK, maybe not totally random. It pops to my head anytime I feel sleepy.

Like now.

Human beings, awake creatures that sleep once in a while 

OR

Sleeping creatures that wake once in a while?

Figuratively, when you are awake you are productive. Asleep you are not. 

The answer to this question will determine whether it is extraordinary to be awake or asleep.

Uh? Let's answer the question.

Election fever

Hi everyone.

If you are a Nigerian and you can read this, then you must surely know that elections are close by. It's been 12 straight years of democracy and I must confess that the interest by the public has never been higher. The future is definitely bright for us.

Gone are those days when the average Nigerian sits in his house and says it does not matter who he votes for because who will win will win. Now it's RSVP - Register (check); Select (mostly check); Vote (coming up); Protect (our responsibility).

My blog post is based on the protect part.

INEC has confirmed that a modification of the open ballot system used during the 1993 elections will be used at the polls in 2011. This means you get accredited first, then on completion of accreditation, voting starts as each of the accredited voters would have the chance to secretly make their choices in the open view of everyone . At the end, the votes will be counted and results announced there and then, making sure the number of votes does not exceed the number of accredited voters. This way, everybody can be counted and accounted for.

A very good friend of mine designed a simple website which serves as a medium for independent collation and monitoring of election results. The aim is to gather as many volunteers as possible to monitor the varioous polling booths and upload the election results at their stations as it is announced. This will give everyone an indication to our the election is going and hence protect our votes.

We all pray to God to give us a better Nigeria, this is our own part to play.

Sign up as a volunteer today!

Click here to volunteer to be a monitor (Referral: aibet2000@yahoo.com or makville@yahoo.co.uk)

Become a fan on facebook

Follow on twitter!

Worst song ever?

Twitter is a crazy network, a useful one at that. Can turn you into a star, overnight. I am not here to talk about twitter sha. Not today.

There has been this fuzz over a certain 13-year old Rebecca Black who has received over 29 million views for her music video 'Friday' uploaded on Youtube. The song has received a lot of reviews most of which are negative. Some have tagged it the worst song ever! She has trended for close to a week on Twitter now and to quote a tweet: 'We don't hate Rebecca Black because she is trending, Rebecca Black is trending because we hate her.'

I decided to add one to the views of the video and I saw that even though the video was not cool, it was not as bad as people painted.

Maybe that's due to the fact that I like to give people the benefit of the doubt, but I think it is more because I have seen worse.

I stumbled on a video by a certain guy on facebook. I think that is the worst song in the world. I would like to share the torture with everyone. So 'enjoy'.

Warning:

If you have suicidal tendencies, don't watch. It might activate that potential.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3y1WNX8XLc

My See Rees Countdown

I am not a huge fan of TV series. I believe most of them are almost never-ending and boring. Also, my screen-staring stamina is not very impressive...you can ask Lord of the Rings trilogy.

However, some series stand out for me and has been worth every sleepless nights, every forced fasting and every books left unread because of them. I'll start from number 10, enjoy.

10. Heroes

      This is to make up the numbers really because I totally switched off after the first season. Good concept but way too many characters in my opinion. Some of my friends would probably kill me for that review. Save the cheerleader, save the world...maybe I'll understand what that means tomorrow. Hiro Nakamura was my favorite character by the way.

9. Smallville

    My former roomies can testify to this...when you start to hear the song, 'Somebody saaaaaave me', you know I'm at it again. Nice story, got tired however at about the 5th season. I was wondering what Clark Kent was aiming for, or were we just being sentenced to staring at his day-to-day life? He should also find a solution to his Kryptonite problem, it's annoying. My brother is still a huge fan of the show.

8. Grey's Anatomy

    A medical series, at least in part. Started with the stories of some interns and the progress they made from day to day. The drama was interesting and they ended up with almost all the imaginable permutations of sleeping together. I got bored when they decided to fade out my favorite characters: George O'Malley and Preston Burke. I still watch it once in a while, but that's when the other seven series yet to be reviewed are not available.

7. The Simpsons

   Lolol! This crazy series is the king of parodies. The family is dysfunctional and guaranteed to crack you up. I watched the first 2 seasons and I loved it. The first time I saw an episode was in 2005 in a friend's room, I cannot remember the last time I laughed that hard. But can anybody be as dumb as Homer?

6. How I met your mother

   This series which is supposed to give an unsolicited narration of how the title character (Ted) met his wife to his children is one of the funniest things on earth. From the antics of the lively Barney Stinson to the hilarious banter between Ted and Marshall and then Marshall and Lily then Ted and Robin, there's the making of a great show. I'm still waiting to hear how he met their mother though. I also love the flashbacks and flashfronts. It's legen...wait for it...dary!

5. Scrubs

   Hahahahahaha! Very unserious doctors. If only that were real. They do crack me up really. JD's imaginations; Perry's sarcasm; Turk's dance; the Todd's persona among others. Great series for me, anyday! I love the soundtracks too...have them all.

4. Boston Legal

   Gee...these lawyers are not normal one bit! One is always shouting his name to himself, he's got a male friend who is almost like his wife. The cast is completed by various lawyers and paralegals each with their own degrees of craze - cue Edwin Poole on 'Casual Monday'. I like the atypical way they win their cases, and the hilarious vacations they go on...and the theme music. Finally, Denny Crane!

3. House MD

   This show which centres around a limping, pill-popping, emotionless, jackass, bad-mouthed, misanthropic, sarcastic, genius doctor and his team, colleagues and Cuddy is one of my favorite show. Unlike Grey's Anatomy, it is actuallly more medical. Case after case, the way they solve the mysteries and the puzzles, it's phenomenal. I still prefer when the team was Chase, Cameron and Foreman though. Boy, does he like to torment Cuddy?

2. 24

   High powered, adrenaline pumping series. Jack Bauer at the center. My roommates and I were arduous fans of this show in my last 2 years in school. We saw it with speakers blazing, we applauded all the JB moves, we dodged bullets with Jack and we all had the CTU ringtone as our ringtone. I remember toward our 5th year professional exams, we got a new season of the series and had to throw it on the cupboard, behind the big travelling bags so that we could read for exams instead! Ended at Season 7, I miss that show. My girlfriend loves it too!

1. F.R.I.E.N.D.S

   Friends is a show about six friends, none above the other. A 10-season classic complete with humor, drama, adventure and even mild action! I love this show, more than anything on screen. I have the whole 10 seasons on my computer and I've seen it up to 9 times! I can act it along with them. Not one day passes without me thinking about Friends. I'm obsessed. Hahahahaha. My favorite character, Chandler! He makes sarcasm cool. 

That's my top 10 in a nutshell, not that I've seen any other series apart from those ten...don't judge me.

Ok, I need to pee, bye.

Who is a doctor?

What a question! Of course a doctor is someone who has gone to medical school and treats sick people. They also use all these big words that nobody knows. They are mostly hardened, treating every patient as a case rather than a person...or someone with honorary doctorate or PhD.

  

Hm, good definition, albeit rather flawed. Let's examine it for a minute. 

According to World Health Organization (WHO), health is a state of physical, emotional, mental and spiritual well-being and not merely the absence of disease or illness.

This means a deficiency in any of the above means an unhealthy person.

Simply put now, I'm thinking a doctor should be one whose job is to restore unhealthy people to full health eh?

I'm going to ask again, who is a doctor?

 

Can it be a physician, surgeon, psychiatrist and all those people that went to medical school?  

Most definitely! They, in this case, me and them, all have a role to play in the four areas of well-being. If you only take care of the first part, then you have not done the best. No wonder some of our patients keep coming back with bizarre complaints. Of course, the more they come back, the more money we get eh? But let's remember, it's about healing not making money (tongue in cheek), so the more needs we meet, the more the satisfaction we gain. 

I would like to meet my patient on the road and hear him say 'Doctor, thanks a lot. I feel okay now' rather than 'Doctor, the drugs worked at first but now I need to come and see you for the same complaints'.

Can a doctor be your partner, your family member, your friend, colleague, your pastor? 

I like to think so! At one point in time or another, these people have contributed towards your well-being in the aforementioned categories. 

Your parents put you through school (mental); your spouse has cooked you a big meal and shown you some love (physical, emotional); your pastor has just spoken some words of comfort to you (spiritual); even a smile from a stranger at times or a compliment.

I guess WHO did not know the implication of their definition of health. They have just made everyone a potential doctor!

So what do I have above all these other people? I know some of those big medical terms!

On a tangential note, how come 'doctored' is a negative word?

I'm going to end with this, your health and that of others around you is your responsibility. Always be willing to play doctor - but know your limits!

- Dr B. Arabambi, MBBS.

What is wrong with Valentine's day?

February 14th, a date that is one of the most popular in the year. Maybe second only to Christmas and New year's day. A day that bears different meanings to different people. A day that has been a victim of criticism by many - mostly the guys, and some opinionated girls. A day that has inspired a lot of jokes, some albeit hilarious.

Because I like jokes and a good laugh, I would give a few examples of puns I've seen and heard about the day.

- Boys always try to breakup with their girlfriends and then make up on 15th of February

- Girls do not get angry before that day no matter how hard their boyfriends try to annoy them

- Valentine's day should be shifted to March 1st, for the sake of salary earners

- 'Toasting' reduces drastically around this period...and so on

The day in itself stems from history, like so many other special days. Many would argue that there were many people named St. Valentine and that what they did has been doctored and twisted, sometimes due to selfish reasons into what we now celebrate. My answer is, who cares?

First of all, to celebrate the valentine's day is not by force. If you don't believe in it or identify with the concept - big deal? - then don't mark it.

Second, if you want to mark the day, then do it from your heart. A man who gives his girlfriend or wife a 2011 Aston Martin, and tells his girlfriend that 'I am giving you this because today is Valentine's day and I am your boyfriend' has given less than a man who gives his girlfriend a pair of shoes and says 'I am giving you this as a token of my love for you, and to celebrate what we have because with you, everyday is special'. Of course, the materialistic girl, who has no love for her beau would prefer the former...but that's not what Valentine's day is about. That's just gold-digging.

All I'm saying now is that to really know you are celebrating Valentine's day with the right person, you have to want to do that everyday. You want to take them out, whisper in their ears how much you love them, hold them in your hands, feel their heartbeats with your ears and not once would you think any of these is unnecessary burden.

In some settings, people pick names randomly to decide who would be whose 'Valentine' and there is exchange of gifts and cards. This promotes camaraderie, which is totally wrong - sarcasm intended. It is not wrong, in fact, it is great - for those who don't understand sarcasm.

On a lighter note - A baby with a bow and arrow? That's just cute.

I'll end my story by saying, if you have that partner that you claim to love, and you decide because you want to be different, not to acknowledge February 14 with them, you are on your own. Don't say I did not tell you. Love is a verb. Love is a doing word.

Peace...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentine's_Day